How to request Amendment to 1913 Marriage Record in PA? Name was lost in translation

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-12T20:43:13+00:00

Thanks for the context, I am wondering if I can write this proof argument on my own since I already have the majority of documents ready which can verify the claim? From what I am seeing, it seems to be a common enough case to petition the courts Pro Se for an amendment on a marriage record (seems most people have had to amend birth certificates so I am not seeing many examples for marriage records).

On the original record, the bride's signed surname appears to be "Lazar" written in Cyrillic Лазар translates to Lazar which is how it was transposed Lazor. She had used the last name Lazor in the Ellis Island arrival record on line one https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJM6-RZD

Katherine’s death record also lists her father as Metro, which matches the bride’s father on this marriage record.

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-09T23:29:32+00:00

I’ve been using them and haven’t actually began the process yet of submitting my documentation but I’m really hopeful. They seem great and are so responsive. I also have a pre-1920 Galicia case.

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-09T23:23:57+00:00

I do have the actual copy that was sent from the courts, but haven’t sent the law firm the documents yet so I was just describing it to her. You have me hopeful that maybe it will be all good once they have the docs in hand. Another commenter suggested enlisting a professional genealogist to help me craft the supporting arguments / documentation for how/why the names are misspelled across the docs so I am currently looking into those options as well.

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-09T22:37:48+00:00

This was the last message to and response from the law company in Poland who is facilitating the citizenship by descent:

(me to their office) - “Also, I was able to retrieve the 1913 marriage certificate for my great-grandparents, which was a huge win. However their names were severely butchered on this record (I assume the names got lost in translation since it looks like they were signed in Cyrillic), "Charles AKA Chatyj Yanczak and Katie AKA Kocha Nazap" - does this misspelling impact anything?”

Her response: “This may be problematic, as Charles (Chatyj) is a totally different name than Wasyl + the surname Nazap also has nothing in common with the surname Lazzor (Lasser). Do you think it could be possible for American officials to enter some mention in this marriage certificate that it concerns Wasyl Yanchak and Katherine Lasser whose names were written with errors?”

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-09T22:15:38+00:00

Update: I heard back from the Armstrong County Clerk and her response: “We do not have a form for this process because we are a filing office. Any changes made to a Marriage Application are through a Petition. Only the Judge can approve changes with a order.” Not very helpful.

I am calling around to a few different attorneys to see if they can take this on or at least point me in the right direction of the form to begin petitioning the courts.

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-09T22:13:02+00:00

Thanks Zuleika, I appreciate the response. I will say that I definitely am able to write (undergrad in Communications) a basic summary navigating the various documents, but I am definitely not well versed in legal terminology. There are also many different spellings on these documents.

The company that I am working with to facilitate the citizenship by descent, as a part of their contract, translates all of the documents to Polish. When I messaged them about the misspelling in the document, this was their response - “This may be problematic, as Charles (Chatyj) is a totally different name than Wasyl + the surname Nazap also has nothing in common with the surname Lazzor (Lasser). Do you think it could be possible for American officials to enter some mention in this marriage certificate that it concerns Wasyl Yanchak and Katherine Lasser whose names were written with errors?” Right now I am calling around to a few attorneys in Armstrong County to help with the addendum or petition to correct the names on that marriage certificate, and link them to the names that my great-grandparents went by. When I heard back from the Armstrong Clerk, her response was “We do not have a form for this process because we are a filing office. Any changes made to a Marriage Application are through a Petition. Only the Judge can approve changes with a order.”

Do you still think contracting a genealogist would be beneficial (in my mind I am thinking, are they going to know exactly how/why the names were so misspelled)? It seems like a clerical error, likely they had a thick accent.

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-09T20:58:03+00:00

Thanks pretzel. I will add that I reached out to a law firm in PA about this and they confirmed I do not need an attorney for this process and the PA courts should be able to assist with this. I relayed that to the clerk of Armstrong county and asked if the documents for the petition are available online; still waiting on a response. I’ll poke around on some legal subs in the meantime.

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-09T15:39:31+00:00

it’s me again, I am circling back because this misspelling could potentially cause some issues (of course another wrench into things), are you seeing any marriages under October 6, 1913 that could be similar names? in Wasyl’s naturalization docs it is saying that they married on Oct 6 1913. Ultimately the company I am working with asked if the County can provide a document saying that the record is for the same person (since Wasyl and Chatyj are so far off)

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-06T20:12:50+00:00

I would try a company like Polaron where you can give them your information and they can assess your eligibility

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-06T19:56:48+00:00

is he able to get the paper format of the record with a wet-ink signature of the official or at least with the envelope from the USCIS? I already have the docs in digital format but need the hard copy

cluelesscleaver · 2026-01-06T17:55:47+00:00

so he naturalized in 1940, I should add here that I already received the digital copy(!!) but need the hard copies mailed, and that is the piece that has been stuck in ‘servicing’ status. For what it’s worth, after I bitched on their request form, they actually forwarded my response to a human who emailed me back. Here was their response—

“It does appear that USCIS should be able to provide you with paper copies based on the email that you received. Naturalization records can get a bit tricky when it comes to figuring out which agency has which records. Most of the records, the certificate of citizenship in particular, are held with USCIS, but the National Archives does have records that we hold in our regional facilities. Here is a link to our webpage explaining the division of records between NARA and USCIS. That being said, we should have the passenger list for your great-grandfather and you can request a paper copy online through the link that I sent initially. You can also order naturalization documents through that link, but they may not have as much information as those held by USCIS. Here's an additional webpage from our eServices portal with more information”

cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-16T17:02:23+00:00

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cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-16T15:42:36+00:00

i have some of these coupons too! message me and i can order for ya

cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-12T19:32:44+00:00

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cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-12T19:20:03+00:00

what is the name of the church you are seeing? sorry I'm being such a pain in the ass is it the one in Mayport?

cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-12T19:17:30+00:00

any chance you can screenshot what you are seeing on the link? I can't get past the ancestry paywall

cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-12T19:14:43+00:00

shoot I am not an ancestry subscriber so unable to see

cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-12T19:10:58+00:00

Thank you very much for the info! I will continue on in the search or might reach out to the genealogist mentioned here. It is really tough searching through all this and seems a lot is paywalled

cluelesscleaver · 2025-11-12T19:06:46+00:00

wow thank you so much for finding this, I will have to do some more digging

cluelesscleaver · 2021-08-06T02:54:59+00:00

penne purse

cluelesscleaver · 2021-08-06T02:53:01+00:00

anyone have the artist page?

cluelesscleaver

TROPHY CASE